gaieté de cœurn.
/ɡeɪˌteɪ də ˈkəː/ Light-heartedness; playfulness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > cheerfulness > [noun] > light-heartedness
lightnessa1350
light-heartedness1603
jauntiness1712
gaieté de cœur1728
sans souci1781
boyhood1829
sans-souci-ism1837
breeziness1885
gaydom1922
carefreeness1924
viscerotonia1980
happy-go-luckiness2008
1728 C. Cibber Vanbrugh's Provok'd Husband i. i. 4 Take a frolicksome Supper at an India-House—perhaps, in her Gayeté de Cœur toast a pretty Fellow.
1747 H. Walpole Let. 24 Nov. in Corr. (1954) XIX. 448 I did not mention returning to Florence out of gaieté de cœur.
1886 C. M. Yonge Chantry House I. xiii. 119 Emily..in youthful gaieté de cœur had got a little tired of her.
1936 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 July 558/2 The latest ebullition of his [sc. the Regent's] gaieté de coeur is to make the French Ambassador's wife drunk at table.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1728